CHECK out the rest of the pics HERE

This is a good website for Atlanta concerts and shows, it has a really extensive calendar of what’s coming up at just about every venue one could think of.

Atlanta Music Guide

Can anyone say Modern Skirts?!

Modern Skirts might be my new favorite background music. This is not because it’s easily forgotten or just a mesh of smooth sounds that could be heard in an elevator of a hospital. No, this album is full of changes and clever creations that find a new sound with each track. Modern Skirts does a brilliant job opening the album with a catching, acoustic driven song. The “dada-dadadons” cause involuntary singing, often adding to the harmonizing tones that are already present. The album seems to want to play between their synth sounds and the acoustic familiarity that they must have grown up learning to play.

Unfortunately, most bands never know how to attempt at another sound or stray from a tried-and-true song writing structure. Modern Skirts have fun straying, but never let themselves get lost. If I wasn’t listening to the album straight through, I might believe another band was creeping into my playlist occasionally. That is why I enjoy it for my background—it is not just one continuous song. Check out the opener “Chanel” and try to keep from singing along.

Why I Sing…

This is the last of our “Under The Radar” series.  All of these bands are worth looking into and including in your travels at SXSW or whenever they hit your town…

Modern Skirts

We Should Be Dead

To The Bones- Rex

The Shaky Hands

The Painted Bird- So Beautiful

Tomorrow, we’ll do a top ten of the bands we demand that you see at SXSW.  During SXSW and beyond, we will return…

Hey everybody! Here’s where I normally write a bunch of useless garbage and random non-sequitors, ending with a plea to read my blog. That will not happen this time, I promise. Remember, promises are the key to your eternal happiness. It only takes one to make an elephant walk. Now read my blog!!

Modern Skirts – All Of Us In Our Night – *** – Very nice record. While playing it low key for the most part, it has a blend of instruments, vocals, and atmosphere that make this very pleasing to the ears and enjoyable.

Andrew Bird – Useless Creatures – *** – I love Andrew Bird, and this instrumental companion piece to his new album is a cool addition. It starts off with some nice short pieces, but once it gets into the longer pieces, it tends to trail off into background music. Which is fine, but I think I just prefer singing for the most part.

Steve Martin – The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo – *** – Interesting record, obviously this is going to have some novelty to a lot of people, but I think the banjo songs hold up. I am not familiar with a lot of banjo music, but this sounds good to me, so who knows.

Duncan Sheik – Whisper House – ***1/2 – This is a great CD, definitely picking up after the disappointing White Limousine, and the Spring Awakening Cast Recording, which while great, didn’t have Duncan singing on it. A concept album for another musical, it plays like an actual album, I can’t even tell the story of the play. It’s interesting, exciting, and quite enjoyable. Also features great female vocals by Holly Brooke, which blend well with Sheik.

Ben Kweller – Changing Horses – *** – Cool record from Ben Kweller. I hear everyone saying, oh it’s his country album, well whatever, it still sounds like Ben Kweller. Sure there’s a slide guitar and the themes are more country, but it would never be confused for country music. It’s Kweller-twang.

Hey everybody! Here’s where I normally write a bunch of useless garbage and random non-sequitors, ending with a plea to read my blog. That will not happen this time, I promise. Remember, promises are the key to your eternal happiness. It only takes one to make an elephant walk. Now read my blog!!

Modern Skirts – All Of Us In Our Night – *** – Very nice record. While playing it low key for the most part, it has a blend of instruments, vocals, and atmosphere that make this very pleasing to the ears and enjoyable.

Andrew Bird – Useless Creatures – *** – I love Andrew Bird, and this instrumental companion piece to his new album is a cool addition. It starts off with some nice short pieces, but once it gets into the longer pieces, it tends to trail off into background music. Which is fine, but I think I just prefer singing for the most part.

Steve Martin – The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo – *** – Interesting record, obviously this is going to have some novelty to a lot of people, but I think the banjo songs hold up. I am not familiar with a lot of banjo music, but this sounds good to me, so who knows.

Duncan Sheik – Whisper House – ***1/2 – This is a great CD, definitely picking up after the disappointing White Limousine, and the Spring Awakening Cast Recording, which while great, didn’t have Duncan singing on it. A concept album for another musical, it plays like an actual album, I can’t even tell the story of the play. It’s interesting, exciting, and quite enjoyable. Also features great female vocals by Holly Brooke, which blend well with Sheik.

Ben Kweller – Changing Horses – *** – Cool record from Ben Kweller. I hear everyone saying, oh it’s his country album, well whatever, it still sounds like Ben Kweller. Sure there’s a slide guitar and the themes are more country, but it would never be confused for country music. It’s Kweller-twang.

I just wanted to drop in today and update everyone on some concerts on the calendar fo this month:

Dead Stick Landing will be playing at the Farm 255 in Athens this Friday at 11:00PM. Good tunes, nice guys, check them out if you can.

The Modern Skirts will be playing at The Earl on January 30th at 9 PM. The tickets are only $8.00 if you buy in advance. If you get out and see one local band this month, go see the Modern Skirts. You will be seeing more about this band on the site VERY soon, so keep checking back.

The Disco Biscuits will be at The Tabernacle on January 31st, 9 PM. Also a fun band to see live.

I have some shows posted for February as well, so be sure to View My Concert Calendar located to the right to see what is coming, and to add some favorite concerts you may be attending.

The Disco Biscuits

More later!

Listen: www.musicwebtown.com/lipsynchsuck

“… like Sloan at their ballady best, Modern Skirts have crafted a mostly slow, mellow, and laid back album on All Of Us In Our Night that reeks of Beatles psychedelic ballads and colorful kaleidoscopic eyes.”
Read more on First Coast News

So I was perusing my latest Paste magazine rereading reviews of albums I could purchase with my annual Christmas iTunes gift card when my eye caught an ad for New Arrivals Vol. 3, a compilation CD of indie artists that benefits the National Eating Disorders Association. I totally did not realize that my lovely friend Jay Clifford has his song “Know When To Walk Away” featured on it! (These musicians never seem to publicize when they get on comp CDs like this. I’ve never understood why – the comps are usually awesome!) Further investigation revealed the tracklisting also had Stephen Kellogg on it. I saw him and his band The Sixers in college awhile back (they opened for the Modern Skirts and were quite pumped and awesome), and found out that an old friend of mine sat next to him in their college chem class. Small world indeed.

So there. I can vouch for two of the artists on the compilation disc. And it’s for a good cause. Therefore you should head over to iTunes or the website and purchase a copy as soon as you can.

I’ve been seeing the Explorers Club for years. They’re based out of Charleston, but I saw them open for the Modern Skirts maybe four or five years ago in Athens. They play music that’s right out of the Beach Boys’ 60’s. It’s cute, sunny, and loads of fun to dance to. They finally put out a full-length this year called Freedom Wind, and I have the LP on rotation right now. I became friends with the guitarist Jim. He and I bonded over Paul McCartney and ukuleles.

Not only did the boys get some mention in a recent article at the Charleston City Paper, but their new music video is up on PitchforkTV! It’s 80’s-licious with a beachy sound. (Jim’s in yellow with the caterpillar under his nose.)

The latest issue of Paste Magazine has hit newsstands, and as I do every month, I flip to the sampler disc included in every issue and see if I know anyone. I’ve been pleasantly surprised before, and this month was no exception! My boys the Modern Skirts have a track from their soon-to-be released album on it, as well as Joan Osborne’s cover of my friend Jay Clifford’s song “Cathedrals.” I was a happy hopping honeybunny when I saw that. I am always impressed with many of the tracks Paste includes in their monthly samplers, and I’ve been a happy subscriber for a few years now. It’s a great music mag, and I highly recommend it.

And at work today at the Chain Name Entertainment Store as I was sorting through new stock to shelve, I saw we finally got a few copies of Butch Walker’s latest release, Sycamore Meadows. (I grabbed my co-workers and cried, “We got the new Butch Walker!!!” and if fell upon deaf/confused ears.) It came out a few weeks ago, but now I can rest easy knowing fans of awesome music who live in Chicago now have access to it. On my commute home I listened to some of The Rise & Fall of Butch Walker & the Let’s-Go-Out-Tonites! It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside to hear him make reference to Buckhead and other Atlanta-specific things.

On a related note, Amanda Palmer’s album Who Killed Amanda Palmer? came out a number of weeks ago, and Chain Name Entertainment Store got three copies. I bought one. The other two remain. I’ve been checking frequently to see if anymore go purchased. Yesterday a young lady came in and asked specifically for it! I got all excited! But then she realized we didn’t have the special edition and decided to take her business elsewhere. *Sigh* Back to the drawing board.

Going to hit up the Modern Skirts at the Werehouse this Friday. Excitement abounds. You can see why:

Oh yeah – and check out their music too. Lucky me, their also quite talented.

Souvent, on cherche de la musique pour coller à notre émotion du moment aussi quétaine cela soit-il, mais l’être humain est souvent quétaine moi y compris malheureusement.

Je cherchais quelque chose de planant avec beaucoup de clavier, une voix chaleureuse et j’ai trouvé: Modern Skirts. À écouter en marchant dans la rue petit sourire en coin ou dans sa chambre quand on tente de se répéter qu’au fond le syndrome de la page blanche va passer…

Ciquez ici pour leur Myspace

  
Rock Werchter had dit jaar weer eens een uitstekende affiche. Radiohead, Neil Young, dEUS en vele andere bands beloofden van deze editie een onvergetelijke ervaring te maken. Toch beslisten veel mensen om dit jaar niét naar Werchter te gaan vanwege de hoge ticketprijzen. Met een beetje geluk en goede wil kon je er echter ook gratis naartoe. Ik beleefde Werchter 2008 als betaalde vrijwilliger. Werken op Werchter: een verslag.

Rock Werchter is een begrip. Al meerdere jaren op rij uitgeroepen tot beste festival ter wereld, en voor vele Belgische studenten dé ideale manier om de examenstress van zich af te schudden. De laatste jaren zijn de ticketprijzen van het evenement echter gestaag omhoog gegaan, waardoor veel mensen moesten afhaken. Ook ik had het festival om die reden al een tijd gewoon aan mij laten voorbijgaan.

Dit jaar had ik echter geluk. Eén van mijn vrienden was al een paar jaar aan het werk als ‘security’ op Werchter, en wist mij te vertellen dat binnenraken als vrijwilliger eigenlijk vrij gemakkelijk was. Je moest je gewoon inschrijven op de site van Festivalitis, één van de vrijwilligerorganisaties voor festivals. Ik schreef mij in, en met succes: ik kreeg een telefoontje van Festivalitis om te bevestigen dat ik was aangenomen, samen met drie van mijn vrienden. We zouden met ons vieren voor de duur van het festival een ontzettend plezierig team gaan vormen.

D-Day

Donderdag 3 juli was het zover. We verzamelden aan het huis van een van ons in St. Denijs, en stapten daar vervolgens in de auto. Festivalitis verwachtte ons om half zes aan de dorpskern van Betekom, een buurgemeente van Werchter. De rit zou volgens mappy anderhalf uur in beslag nemen. Door te vertrekken om 3 uur zouden we er zeker op tijd raken.

Al diegenen met een beetje levenservaring weten het echter ongetwijfeld al: er zijn geen zekerheden in het leven. Op weg naar Werchter kwamen we terecht in een heuse Werchter-file, waardoor we uiteindelijk maar nipt op tijd in Betekom zouden toekomen.

Even later kwam ook een verantwoordelijke van het Festivalitis-team toe. Ze deelde ons onze bandjes uit, en nam ons op sleeptouw naar de Werchtercamping voor de crew. We kregen onze tentjes nog voor zes uur opgezet, en ons festival kon eindelijk van start gaan.

Ons ‘team’ bestond zoals reeds gezegd uit 4 mensen. We zouden, mede dankzij onze festivalbaas Roel, gedurende het hele festival samen aan bewaking kunnen doen.

Die vier teamleden waren Jonathan,

Michiel,

Bert,

en mijzelf.

Door het opzetten van onze tenten kwamen we iets te laat toe bij ‘de container’, de verzamelplaats voor vrijwilligers. Alle andere vrijwilligers waren reeds samen met baas Roel vertrokken om ingewijd te worden in de wereld van een Werchterbewaker. Dit zou echter een geluk bij een ongeluk blijken, want toen Roel terug bij ons was, besloot hij ons back –en frontstagedienst te geven aan de Marquee.

Dat kwam hier op neer: Jonathan en Bert konden al ‘bewakend’ alle optredens volgen in de tent zelf, en Michiel en ik zouden backstage onbevoegden uit de buurt moeten houden. We hadden al vlug door dat die job het grootste deel van de tijd niet veel meer inhield dan een oefening in tuinstoelzitten.

 Onze job mocht dan niet veel voorstellen, we zaten wel op de ideale plek om aan celebrityspotting te doen. En jawel hoor, na het optreden van Vampire Weekend verschenen niets minder dan…

De instrumentenkisten van Vampire Weekend op het podium! Vreugde was ons deel. Toen even later ook drie verdacht bekend aandoende mannen naast ons backstagepodium verschenen, waagde ik mijn kans, en vroeg ik om een foto.

Zij: “Off course you can take a picture! But you do know we’re only roadies, right?”

Ik: “Well, you look like someone really famous, so I’ll take a picture just in case.”

Het waren effectief roadies.

Even later, toen Michiel en ik een beetje aan het rondstruinen waren op het backstagepodium, kwamen er echter een man en een vrouw naar ons toe om een praatje te slaan. Het bleken zowaar de manager van Modern Skirts en zijn echtgenote te zijn. Modern Skirts was de band die voor Vampire Weekend in de Marquee had gestaan. Neen, ik had er ook nog nooit van gehoord.

Manager MS: “ Dat is vrij normaal. We touren nu al een jaar in de VS, maar dit is hun eerste internationale tournee. Eigenlijk zijn we hier terecht gekomen dankzij R.E.M. . Modern Skirts en R.E.M. komen namelijk alletwee uit dezelfde stad. R.E.M. bleek fan van hen te zijn, dus namen ze ons mee op tour.”

En valt het mee, zo’n eerste grote tour?

“ Het is allemaal nogal overdonderend eigenlijk. Gisteren heeft de band bijvoorbeeld in Amsterdam gespeeld, voor een publiek van 20.000 mensen. Daar kwam bovenop dat Modern Skirts daar rondliep tussen bands als Radiohead en R.E.M. Ze wisten niet waar ze het hadden! De zanger heeft zich van de zenuwen ladderzat gedronken. Ze hebben hem moeten buitendrágen!”

Dan zal op Werchter optreden ook niet zo makkelijk geweest zijn.

“Oh, jawel hoor. Ze liepen het podium op alsof het niets was. Het is ook maar een publiek van 10.000 man natuurlijk.”

Heb je als manager een plan uitgewerkt om de groep gelanceerd te krijgen?

“ We proberen nu vooral mond-aan-mond reclame te maken bij mensen die we plaatselijk tegenkomen. Als die allemaal onze muziek downloaden van Itunes, en ze weer tippen aan anderen, raken we hopelijk gelanceerd.

Bovendien heeft R.E.M. al eens een groep meegenomen op tournee: The National . Die zijn nu doorgebroken. We hopen op hetzelfde (lacht).”

Na nog wat gepraat te hebben over de verschillen tussen Amerika en Europa moesten ze ons helaas verlaten. Michiel en ik kregen alletwee Modern Skirts’ maxisingle mee, en omdat ik hen had verteld dat ik al eens een festival georganiseerd had, gaven ze mij ook hun naamkaartje. “Bel maar als je er nog eens één organiseert. Als we in de buurt zijn, komen we zeker spelen.”

Mijn avond was goed. Een gesprek met de manager van een band! Een klein bandje weliswaar, maar desalniettemin een leuke ervaring. Modern Skirts heeft een heel sympathiek management, neem dat van mij aan.

Even na dit gesprek begon The National, een band die onlangs was doorgebroken met hun vierde album “Boxer”. Volgens Jonathan en Bert zetten ze een heel goede set neer.

Wij zaten jammer genoeg backstage, en hoorden of zagen er weinig van. Ik had zelf echter op voorhand al een paar nummers van The National beluisterd, en vond het heel goede muziek. Om die reden had ik besloten om na hun set een foto met hen te proberen vast te krijgen. Dat lukte mij wonderwel. Omdat ik geen flauw idee hoe The National er uitzag, stapte ik na het optreden op de eerste de beste persoon af. Het bleek zanger Matt Berninger te zijn, die maar al te graag een praatje sloeg.

Later die avond kregen we nog de kans om Soulwax on stage mee te maken. Er passeerden ook nog een hele rits bekende koppen langs onze tuinstoeltjes, en Lenny Kravitz wist vanop de mainstage onze oren te bereiken met een heel goede set. Ik moet zeggen, het was verdomd plezant dagje. Dit kon ik zo nog wel een paar dagen volhouden. En dat zou ik uiteraard ook doen.

Morgen: interview met Matt Berninger (The National).
Volgende week: ‘Werken op Werchter’ , deel II: Vrijdag.

Athfest–three days packed with music and art–was this past weekend. Dark Meat kicked off the headliners. Modern Skirts and Dubconscious headlined the next two nights. Fortunately, I got to squeeze in some other bands as well: Ponderosa, Centro-matic, A. Armada, The Empties, Richard Sherfey & All God’s Children, Allison Weiss & the Way She Likes It…

Although the weekend tends to revolve around the music, it is full of talented artists in the Artisan Market and full of activities at the Kidsfest. (Check out previous post for these shots.)

I know it’s a little long, but here are a few of my favorite shots…

DARK MEAT blows confetti on the band members and crowd while performing on the main stage during Athfest 2008 on June 20.

MODERN SKIRTS performing at Athfest 2008 on the main stage Satuday, June 21.

Allison Weiss & the Way She Likes It performs on the Hull Street stage Saturday evening.

Ponderosa performing on the main stage Saturday, June 21, afternoon during Athfest 2008.

Lukas cheers on Brantley Gilbert performing Sunday, June 22.

Club crawl:

Centro-matic plays at 40 Watt on Saturday, June 21.

 A. Armada

The Empties performing at Tasty World Saturday, June 21.

Richard Sherfey & All God’s Children, final performance at Tasty World on Saturday.

More shots from Athfest ‘08 by R&B photogs at www.blog.redandblack.com/photo-blog.

…which is to say, buy! Buy! BUY!

As you all know from my post on Friday, I spent the weekend in Athens, GA with AL at this cool, not-so-little thing they call AthFest.  We weren’t down there for the full time, but we were around long enough to get basically a front row spot for the headliner of the weekend, Modern Skirts on Saturday evening.  I’d only listened to a little bit of their stuff, and even then, only on Friday afternoon.  Still, it was good – really, really good – especially if you’re into Ben Folds-sounding stuff.

Their live set, though, was fucking phenomenal.  I won’t claim to know the band well enough to name their songs (also, this is a hasty and not well-researched post… what else is new?), but I was enjoying it as much as any live set by a band I knew next to nothing about.  And that actually is saying something.  This is probably the second or third time I’ve come away from a show like that and started telling everybody I know about the band.

Actually, there were a couple songs I remember.  Pasadena was a huge crowd-pleaser, and as a guy from the Hoosier State like myself, how could I not love Indiana Indian, which is a fun song, even for those who aren’t form the Crossroads.

(For those of you curious, the other one that comes to mind is Miranda Sound, an outfit out of Columbus, OH, who is very sadly breaking up this August.  If you happen to be in the vicinity of any of their shows and like good, accessible indie rock, go check them out.  A guy I knew once said that the fact that Miranda Sound are not huge stars is proof that there’s no justice in the world.  He may have been right, as far as I’m concerned.)

Anyway, the Skirts seemed awed by the number of people on the street there to see them play.  The drummer was snapping pictures as he left the stage, and what was really neat, all four members of the band seemed to be having the time of their life on stage, and I get the impression that that’s just the norm.  Still, with the giant crowd and the buzz in the atmosphere, it was like everybody could feel something in the air – these guys really are poised to take off.  Opening for R.E.M. in Amsterdam, playing fesitvals in the U.K.  Who knows what will be waiting for them when they come back Stateside?

And they’re a blast to watch.  The keyboard player, who played everything but the drums at various points, hammers the keys like Schroeder from Peanuts.  (I wish I could claim credit for that comparison, but it comes courtesy of a friend.)  The singer completely lost himself when the rest of the band was rocking out, conducting his mates and the audience.  There was even a giant white rabbit playing tambourines at one point.

All rambling and gushing aside, give Modern Skirts a listen.  You’ll get some indie cred by saying you were into them before anybody outside of Athens was.  And you’ll enjoy the hell out of it, too, and that’s the important thing.

UPDATE: AL just emailed me with a slideshow from the show on Saturday, complete with a crowd shot where the two of us are mostly visible (with around 1:20 remaining, behind the girls on the right).  [Online Athens]

Ideally, I’ll have some sort of Weekending post on Fridays going forward, but that will have to wait this weekend because I’m heading to the Dirty South for a wedding, some boozing, and some live tunage.  Going to see a band AL likes to talk about down in Athens, GA – called Modern Skirts.  From their website:

It all starts with our Charlotte Speed Street Fest apperance on Sat May 24th, then we headline the mainstage at our hometown festival ATHFEST: Athens, GA Music & Arts festival on the night of Sat June 21st. Then, wait a minute it gets even better, we fly over to the UK to perform at the Glastonbury festival on Sat June 28th, open for freakin’ R.E.M. in Amsterdam on Wed July 2nd, play on Thu July 3rd at the Werchter Rock Festival in Belgium (opening for Vampire Weekend, The National), then close it all out with an appearance at the 02 Wireless Festival in London (performing on the MTV stage)in Hyde Park. We’ll be playing to some of the biggest crowds of our short career and are extremely thankful for everyone’s help and support in getting us to this point. Be sure to check out our tour schedule page for more details on the shows.

I haven’t had much of a chance to listen to them yet, but they seem to be getting some good gigs, and I’m seeing ‘em, so give them a listen and let us know what you think.  I’ll have my verdicts after the weekend.  Enjoy, kids.

UPDATE: After taking my own advice and listening to a few Modern Skirts songs on their website, I’m definitely enjoying the sound.  It’s very reminiscent of Ben Folds.  So, for those of you who enjoy that particular flavor of music, fire up the old iTunes and start making your ISP mad by clogging those tubes.

I know I keep talking about Modern Skirts, but they rule… so deal! Anyway, the coolest thing happened last night. 1) It was cool because my good friend Mack came to town and had dinner with E and I, and 2) it was further cooled by the fact that we had said dinner at Wild Wing at which they have the new Terrapin Wake N Bake Oatmeal Imperial Stout. But then… just when I thought it couldn’t get any cooler, who’s CD comes on for background music… That’s right; Modern Skirts Baby! Sooooo cool. I know they’re an Athens band, and it shouldn’t be so amazing to hear them in an Athens restaurant; but it was damnit I guess it was just that it was the first time I’d heard their music when I wasn’t expecting it. I think that’s a milestone. Other people who don’t know me, and who presumably don’t know the guys in the band, thought enough of their music to have their CD on rotation for their customers’ listening pleasure. How cool!!

Also… you really need to get you some of that new Terrapin… Holy Crap!